What Did the President Know and When Did He Know It?

President Trump’s investment accounts executed more than 3,600 securities transactions during the first quarter of 2026. According to filings made with the U.S Office of Government Ethics, the trades involved many major corporations doing business with the federal government, including Nvidia, Apple, Amazon, Dell, Palantir, Boeing, and Intel, with total transaction values estimated somewhere between $220 and $750 million. Because most of the filings generally disclose purchases and sales of securities within broad dollar ranges rather than exact figures, it’s impossible for the public to know with any precision the magnitude of the trading. Regardless, the scale of the activity is unprecedented for a sitting president.

Many of these transactions occurred suspiciously close to government announcements that have enhanced the values of the companies in which the president invested. A review of the chronology of only one of Trump’s 2026 first quarter investments — the purchase of shares in Dell Technologies Inc. — raises several questions that should concern the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice.

• February 10 – Trump acquired Dell shares valued at between $1 million and $5 million.
• February 19 – Trump publicly praised Dell products during a speech in Georgia and encouraged consumers to buy Dell computers.
• May 8 – At a White House Mother’s Day event, Trump praised the Dell family and said, “Go out and buy a Dell. They’re great.”
• May 28 – The Pentagon announced a $9.7 billion contract with Dell, described as the largest government contract in the company’s history.
• May 29 – Dell stock surged more than 30 percent in a single session.

This chronology raises two obvious questions. First, did the president have advance knowledge that the Pentagon contract with Dell was in the works when the shares were purchased. Second, if so, did he cause the transaction to be made, directly or indirectly?

Regarding this second question, The Trump Organization has stated that: “President Trump’s investment holdings are maintained exclusively through fully discretionary accounts independently managed by third-party financial institutions with sole and exclusive authority over all investment decisions. Trades are executed and portfolios are balanced through automated investment processes and systems administered by those institutions. Neither President Trump, his family, nor The Trump Organization plays any role in selecting, directing, or approving specific investments. They receive no advance notice of trading activity and provide no input regarding investment decisions or portfolio management of any kind.”

It should be noted that Trump’s holdings are not in a blind trust. If they were in a blind trust, The Trump Organization wouldn’t be forced to deny Trump’s involvement in these investments. But given other documented self-dealing of the Trump family during this administration, it is reasonable to question the accuracy of The Trump Organization’s pronouncement.

There is not now enough public information to know whether Trump ran afoul of the federal securities laws. To establish a violation of the insider trading laws in this context under Section 10b of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, there must be evidence that:

• a trader possessed material nonpublic information;
• the trader had a duty to keep the information confidential and not share or trade on it (such as information learned in confidential government meetings), or the trader breached a duty of trust or confidence owed to the source of the information; and
• the trade occurred while aware of that information.

Hopefully, in the fullness of time, lawyers for an independent SEC and DOJ, with the ability to subpoena electronic and other documents and compel testimony under oath, will be able to determine: what the president knew about the Pentagon contract with Dell and when he knew it; whether he directed the purchase of the Dell shares; and the legal implications of Trump’s touting of Dell and its products after he purchased the shares.

For now, it’s clear that the administration continues to have a cavalier attitude toward white-collar crime. Stephen Buyer, a former congressman from Indiana, was sentenced in 2023 in the Southern District of New York to 22 months in prison after being convicted on four counts of securities fraud relating to insider trading. The case involved confidential information about two mergers that Buyer received from clients of his consulting firm. On June 4, President Trump pardoned him.